Apple has announced the iPad Air featuring a 9.7-inch Retina display. Weighed one pound, iPad Air is 20% thinner and 28% lighter than the fourth-generation iPad, and with a narrower bezel the borders of iPad Air are thinner.

Apple has also announced the iPad mini with Retina display, bringing all the pixels from the 9.7-inch iPad to its 7.9-inch screen. The new iPads feature the Apple-designed A7 chip with 64-bit desktop-class architecture and the newly-designed iOS 7.

The A7 chip's 64-bit architecture and support for OpenGL ES version 3.0 allow the iPads to output visual effects, while the tablets also feature the M7 motion coprocessor that gathers data from the accelerometer, gyroscope and compass to offload work from the A7 for improved power efficiency.

Both new iPads feature two antennas to support multiple-in-multiple-out (MIMO) technology, bringing twice the Wi-Fi performance to iPad Air and iPad mini with Retina display at a data rate up to 300Mbps. Cellular models also come with expanded LTE coverage to accommodate more LTE networks worldwide, while continuing to deliver comprehensive support for other fast cellular technology around the world (DC-HSDPA, HSPA+).

The iPad Air and iPad mini with Retina display now have a next generation FaceTime HD camera with improved backside illumination sensors featuring larger pixels for better low-light performance. The iSight camera with 5-megapixel sensor and advanced optics, combined with iOS 7 and the image signal processing of A7, further improves still image and video capture on iPad.

The new iPads come with iOS 7, featuring a new user interface. iOS 7 has several new features including Control Center, Notification Center, improved Multitasking, AirDrop, enhanced Photos, Safari, Siri and introduces iTunes Radio, a free Internet radio service based on the music users listen to on iTunes.

The iLife suite of creative apps, including iPhoto, iMovie and GarageBand, and the iWork suite of productivity apps, including Pages, Numbers and Keynote are essential to the Apple experience and are now free with every new iOS device running iOS 7, and are also available as free updates for existing users, so more iPad users now have access to these apps.

The iPad Air with Wi-Fi models will be available in silver or gray starting November 1, for a suggested retail price of US$499 for the 16GB model, US$599 for the 32GB model, US$699 for the 64GB model and US$799 for the 128GB model. The iPad Air with Wi-Fi + Cellular will be available starting November 1 for a suggested retail price of US$629 for the 16GB model, US$729 for the 32GB model, US$829 for the 64GB model and US$929 for the 128GB model. The iPad 2 is available at US$399 for the 16GB Wi-Fi model and US$529 for the 16GB Wi-Fi + 3G model for either AT&T or Verizon.

The iPad mini with Retina display will be available later in November in silver or gray. The iPad mini with Retina display Wi-Fi models will be available for a suggested retail price of US$399 for the 16GB model, US$499 for the 32GB model, US$599 for the 64GB model and US$699 for the 128GB model. The iPad mini with Retina display Wi-Fi + Cellular models will be available for a suggested retail price of US$529 for the 16GB model, US$629 for the 32GB model, US$729 for the 64GB model and US$829 for the 128GB model. The original iPad mini is now offered at US$299 for the 16GB Wi-Fi model and US$429 for the 16GB Wi-Fi + Cellular model for either AT&T, Sprint or Verizon.